Rapid recap: GCU 70, San Diego State 69

Wednesday, January 21

Phoenix, Ariz.

9 p.m.

Grand Canyon

San Diego State

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/21/2026 11:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Go-ahead Wiliams FT delivers 1st Mountain West loss to Aztecs

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon enjoyed the most memorable five-day stretch of basketball at Global Credit Union Arena, handing a Mountain West team its first conference loss for the second consecutive time by pulling out a 70-69 victory against San Diego State on Saturday night.

The Lopes (12-6, 5-2 Mountain West) took the lead with 1.8 seconds remaining on two free throws by junior guard Makaih Williams and kept the Aztecs (13-5, 7-1 MW) winless at GCU in three visits.

Key player

Williams, Makaih GCU junior guard Makaih Williams shared the team scoring lead with senior guard Jaden Henley. Each had 17 points, with Williams hitting a pair of near-logo 3-pointers and using his speed to crack a stalwart San Diego State defense.

Williams, a 6-foot-2 guard from Riverside, California, has come off the bench to average 15.9 points per game over the past nine games,.His 17-point Wednesday game followed a 20-point outing in Saturday's win against Utah State.

Key moment

In a game that had neither team leading by more than five points for the first 27 minutes of action, GCU stretched out its lead in the second half with a defensive lockdown that kept San Diego State to three points over nearly nine minutes.

The Lopes turned a three-point deficit into an 11-point lead midway through the second half by outscoring the Aztecs 17-3. GCU graduate guard Brian Moore Jr. capped the run with a Eurostep drive for a 58-47 lead. After San Diego State followed that with a score, Moore made a 3-pointer for GCU's largest lead of the game at 61-49 with 9:10 to go.

Key statistic

GCU made 11 first-half turnovers and then committed two more on the first two plays of the second half. After that, the Lopes only committed three more turnovers for the remainder of the game.

Quotable

Lopes head coach Bryce Drew: "First half, I thought we played good basketball. I thought, in the second half, we played great basketball for about 16 of those 20 minutes. We had a four-minute stretch where they really hurt us, cut the lead and got the lead. But what a terrific atmosphere. The energy we had a few days ago and the energy tonight. It's just fun. Our guys have a great time playing in front of our crowd with the energy in the building like it has been the last couple of games."

What's next?

GCU will return to the Mountain West road with conference games at Fresno State on Saturday and at Nevada on Tuesday.

Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro's full game story with quotes from head coach Bryce Drew and players.